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Synopsis
From Publishers WeeklySoutheast Asian studies professor Keith McCallum is hired as a consultant by a Texas mogul trying to swing an Indonesian oil deal. In Jakarta, McCallum is kidnapped and given a copy of the "confession" of an Indonesian double agent. Suddenly the professor is in apparent danger, pursued by various heavies. But who are they: CIA? FBI? KGB? McCallum's 15-year-old paper on the 1965 Indonesian coup figures in the plot, and it seems that almost everyone he talks to ends up dead of a "heart attack." Readers will enjoy the story's sophisticated accoutrements: a frenetic pace, fine Indonesian color, McCallum's wryly amusing persona and a couple of twists at the end. But since narrator McCallum doesn't participate in the main CIA plot (winkling a renegade, arms-dealing ex-agent out of Libya), his story may seem a bit peripheral. In addition, most of the action occurs offstage or years ago, and the ambiguous endingwhich leaves unclear the identity of the title characteris something of a letdown. Sloan also wrote War Games and The Case History of Comrade V.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Details
Published
July 1, 1988
Publisher
Critics Choice Paperbacks
Pages
272
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781555472528